Panasonic Lumix G1 digital system camera review : Right before the Photokina 2008 kicked off, Panasonic surprised the whole world, and most certainly Olympus as co-believer in the Micro FourThirds System, with the introduction of the world's first digital camera based on the new Micro FourThirds System. Surprising, since the system was only announced worldwide a few weeks ago, and no one was expecting a new model this fast. An astonishing achievement by Panasonic, and the LUMIX DMC-G1 soon became a hot topic of the Photokina 2008.

Panasonic Lumix G1 a Micro Four Thirds camera
The Panasonic LUMIX G1 is a Micro FourThirds camera. Meaning; a DSLR camera without a mirror. And since this is not possible for a DSLR, it should therefore be considered a system camera. From a technical viewpoint, it is a system that tickles the imagination while it becomes possible to develop extremely compact cameras that still offer the possibility of exchangeable lenses. And in addition, these lenses can also be kept smaller.

Panasonic G1 a compacte system camera
This seems to be fulfilling the desire of many photographers; to own a compact camera with the quality of a DSLR. The Micro FourThirds system camera possesses the same sized sensor as the 'larger' FourThirds models like the Olympus E-30. And thus, great expectations arise. Surprising to see a company like Panasonic, being an electronics manufacturer, come with this new segment. On the other hand, perhaps quite logical that it comes from a company that doesn’t have a legendary film SLR system to support.

Panasonic Lumix G1 review including a DIWA Labs test
We worked with the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G1 for a while. Even before the Photokina, we were lucky enough to be able to take the camera out on a day trip, however, at the time this was just a pre-production model. Meanwhile, the Panasonic G1 has become available worldwide in the colours red, blue and black. Our findings can be read in the following Panasonic Lumix G1 review.

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"The current camera models can be roughly divided in a twosome models: compact and DSLR. Yet a commonly heard wish is to be able to choose a camera with a compact build, yet with the qualities of a digital SLR. Although the current DSLR has considerably shrunk in size, the difference between both models is still vast. This difference however, is broken by the introduction of the Panasonic LUMIX G1."